The Panthers are into a fifth straight preliminary final after Nathan Cleary starred in his comeback match to dismantle the Roosters in a 30-10 victory. Penrith put together their best first half in finals since 1980 as the NRL’s best defensive team dominated the competition’s best attacking side to lead 24-10 at halftime. Cleary returned from injury and improved his incredible record playing alongside Jarome Luai in the NRL to 76 wins from 87 games together.

The Panthers took a 24-0 lead into half-time, but were tested by a resurgent Sydney who scored the opening two tries of the second half. But in the final match at Panthers Stadium before it is torn down, Luke Garner's second try of the match, in the 71st minute, iced the game for Penrith.

The Panthers are one win away from a fifth-straight grand final, while the Roosters will host either Canterbury or Manly in a semifinal next weekend. The Roosters were never in it and they’ll now likely face the winner of the Bulldogs and Sea Eagles in an elimination final next week.

Cleary was everywhere in the first half as Brian To’o, Izack Tago, Jarome Luai and Luke Garner all crossed for the tries. Roosters stars Joseph Suaalii and James Tedesco scored the opening tries of the second half before Garner crossed for a second to seal it in the 70th minute.

The First Half Blitz

In just 20 minutes on Friday night, Penrith threatened to render the previous 16,376 minutes of the 2024 season irrelevant. How else can you describe the way Nathan Cleary returned for the reigning three-time premiers and spearheaded the most impressive, precisely perfect quarter of football this season?

The Panthers wound up 30-10 winners in their last outing at Penrith Park, are preliminary final-bound once again and the first team to win 10 straight against the Roosters since rugby league began. But having piled 22 points past the Tricolours in as many minutes, what to make of their next hour, when the visitors were able to wrestle their way back into the contest and expose a frailty or two on their edges?

Put it this way: if the Panthers repeat and extend that opening 20 minutes across an entire grand final, then they’re lifting the trophy for a fourth time.

Roosters halves Luke Keary and Sandon Smith were so ruthlessly targeted in defence, possession and field position was so strategically managed, and Liam Martin was just so possessed in attack and defence. There was just no competing with them.

By the time an exhausted Roosters enforcer Lindsay Collins, a walk-up starter in Queensland and Australian front-rows, came off after 25 minutes, he had 26 tackles and just two run metres to his name.

Brian To’o’s opening try was so clinical it looked like a training run, if it had been choreographed by artificial intelligence. Izack Tago scored from a Cleary kick, Jarome Luai stepped his way through from a dummying Cleary lead-up and Luke Garner carried Smith across the line. By the time they took a breath, the Panthers were still yet to make an error.

Penrith’s opening rage was so sweet, it couldn’t be maintained, particularly once forward leaders Moses Leota and James Fisher-Harris retired to the bench. Keary and Smith, battered and bruised by Penrith’s ball-runners, slowly worked their way into the game. The Panthers walked off to a resounding standing ovation at half-time.

The Roosters' Fightback

But when play resumed, it was one single, admirably optimistic, visiting fan conducting a shouted “Roosters, Roosters” monologue to the masses. Slick shifts to first the left edge for Joseph Suaalii, and then the right for James Tedesco, had the Roosters on the board and kind of, somehow, back in the game.

Penrith’s edge defence looked shaky in the process too. The Panthers never lost their ascendancy, but they didn’t drive it home either. And when the Roosters went streaking away down their left, a forward pass call against Daniel Tupou looked harsh at best, and kept any miracle comeback at bay.

Cleary, all but flawless from his boot, fittingly had the final say. His grubber for Garner’s second try put the Roosters down for good, father Ivan responding by wrapping his star halfback in cotton wool for the final few minutes.

A Dominant Display

The Roosters now face either Manly or Canterbury in a sudden-death final next Saturday. Penrith have earned themselves a week off and are, once again, just 80 minutes from yet another grand final. Twenty minutes on Friday night was all it took to look like winning the whole damn thing.

That’s full-time in Penrith, and an absolutely stunning performance from the Panthers. If that’s not a warning shot to minor premiers Melbourne, then I don’t know what is. If the Panthers continue to play the way they played tonight, they could be in for a historic fourth consecutive premiership.